Approval
by FifiDoll
Summary: Companion piece to A Second Chance, set after that but before the epilogue, Us Against The World. I'd recommend reading that one first as well. Finn, Puck, and Burt take Alex to a baseball game and Kurt is less than happy about it.


**This is a companion piece to A Second Chance. You probably won't know what's going on unless you read that first.**

**Approval**

"Come on, please babe?" Puck asked from the stairs leading to Kurt's room.

Alex stood at Kurt's feet, bouncing and clapping, asking "Please? Please?"

"I'm not letting you guys just disappear with him!" Kurt said roughly. "I want to know where you're taking him!"

Puck sighed. He wanted to tell Kurt, he really did, but that would just make things worse. "I can't tell you. That's part of the surprise," Puck sighed. He walked over to Kurt slowly. "Look," he said. "I know you like being in control of everything. But…trust us."

Kurt looked at his boyfriend skeptically. His eyes narrowed, but Puck looked earnest and never faltered. "You're really not going to do anything stupid like pierce his ears?" Kurt asked, eyeing the horrible diamond studs Puck had added to his own earlobes.

"Promise," Puck said, staring into Kurt's eyes. "Plus, your dad will be with us. You know he won't let me and Finn do anything stupid."

Kurt still didn't look satisfied, but he nodded. "Okay. Fine," he said softly. "I trust you."

"Thank you," Puck said, kissing Kurt's forehead before stepping away and pulling Alex up into his arms. "We'll probably be back late, so don't wait up."

"You know I will," Kurt called after him.

As he walked upstairs, Puck felt insanely guilty, but at the same time he knew what he had done was right. Kurt had welcomed Puck into his and Alex's lives, and with that came the agreement that Alex would get to try lots of different things, including going to a baseball game. They'd agreed on it the night after Alex's first birthday party when the boy had first called Puck 'daddy.' They had talked for hours that night, discussing boundaries, the future, _everything_. Kurt had seemed so okay with the idea of taking Alex to a baseball game then, but the reality of it all was that he probably _wasn't_. When Puck reached the main floor he was just in time to follow Finn out to Burt's SUV. They made their way to the game with some Mellencamp playing in the background. Alex seemed endlessly amused by the musical selection and chanted "Pink house! Pink house!" the whole way.

Once at the game, Alex clung to Puck shyly. He'd never been around so many people before, even if it was just a collegiate summer league game. They made their way to their seats – they weren't spectacular, but they had a good view of the base line to first, which Alex found endlessly exciting. It was like the players were running towards him. He giggled as the game began, amused by all the players running towards him. When the first player got a home run, he covered his ears at the crack of the bat hitting the ball. Puck chuckled and pulled the boy's hands away. "None of that, mister," he teased. "A real man doesn't cover his ears."

The second time it happened Alex didn't cover his ears. Instead he cheered. This would have been adorable if it weren't for the fact that the opposing team had gotten the home run. "No, we like the Locos," Finn told him. "Not the Steam."

"He's not gonna know what you're talking about," Burt leaned over to say to Finn.

"Locos!" Alex giggled, looking at Burt mischievously. "Locos!"

"Smart kid," Burt laughed, tapping Alex on the nose, eliciting more giggles from the boy.

They sat a little longer until Alex got restless. "I'll take him for a quick walk around the deck," Finn offered.

"I can take him, dude," Puck said, reaching out for Alex, who was currently perched on Finn's knee.

"It's cool," Finn shrugged. "I gotta stretch anyway. My legs are too long for these seats."

Puck let Finn wander off with Alex, a feeling of uneasiness washing over him. Burt slid down the bench and asked, "Scary, isn't it? Leaving your kid with someone else?"

Pulled from his thoughts, Puck turned to Burt and nodded wordlessly. "Look, I know Alex isn't your kid and that you and Kurt are just dating, but I want you to know…I'm happy for you. Both of you." Puck looked genuinely surprised as Burt continued, "I know you're treating Kurt right so I don't need to beat that into you. But I gotta ask you something."

Puck was surprised by the whole conversation and could only nod. "Are you planning on getting serious with Kurt?" Burt asked gruffly.

He hadn't thought about it so specifically before. Sure, Puck was happy with Kurt and enjoyed being around him more than anyone else. They'd been dating for over two years and the thought of being with anyone else hadn't even crossed his mind. He swallowed before replying, "Yeah, I am. I mean, if we're not already."

He was insanely nervous and couldn't figure out why. He'd talked to Burt hundreds of times before. "Good," Burt nodded. "I figured you two were."

Puck sighed in relief, glad to have that awkward conversation out of the way. Or so he thought. Burt continued by saying, "I just have one other thing I want to ask you."

"Sure."

"I know this new law was passed and you and Kurt are all excited about it, but I want you to promise me that you two won't rush out and get married just because you can," Burt said quickly. He watched Puck with a scrutinizing stare and said, "I know you two are getting to that point, but please, I want to see my son get married. He and Alex are the only blood family I have left and I want to do this right, no matter who my son's in love with. Got it?"

Puck nodded fervently and said, "I promise." He looked a little pale and shell-shocked.

They turned back to the game, watching as the Lima Locos _finally_ hit the ball. It was a foul ball, but still, it was something. Leaning over, Burt added as an afterthought, "And just know that if you ever want to marry my Kurt, you have my permission."

His eyes never left the game as Puck stared over at Burt incredulously. Had he just gotten permission to marry Kurt before he'd even thought about buying a _ring_? "You…really?" Puck asked, shocked.

Burt turned to Puck, amusement in his eyes. "Of course," he replied, laughing a little at Puck's reaction. "We'd be proud to have you in our family."

Weathered hazel eyes returned to watching the game as Puck took it all in. Finn and Kurt hadn't been joking; they really did have _the best_ father in the world (well, step-father, in Finn's case). Puck was overwhelmed by it all; it took him a whole inning to snap out of it and focus on the game. It helped that Alex and Finn had returned. Alex chattered on and on about the mascot out where they had come from, which Finn explained, embarrassed, was actually a toy train. He had told Alex it was "kind of like" the team's mascot, but of course Alex only gathered one word from that. Puck laughed at his friend and called him a dumbass.

Alex kept begging Puck to take him out to the "mascot" again, and Burt just laughed. Finn's face was red; he was still embarrassed over the fact that it was his fault his nephew thought a mascot was an inanimate object. "Fine, we can go see it again," Puck laughed.

It was only the bottom of the fifth and Alex was getting bored with the game. "You hold our seats, I'll go grab some food," Burt said to Finn.

He followed Puck and Alex out on the deck and watched as Puck brought Alex over to the train. Girls walked up and tried to flirt with Puck, but the man only had eyes for the toddler he had with him. Burt watched from the corner of his eye. Puck passed all of his "tests" as Burt waited for their food. He didn't flirt with the girls, he was careful not to let Alex out of his sight, and he was just plain _nice_. When he looked over and met Burt's eyes, he caught sight of the food and convinced Alex it was time to leave. The little boy hopped off the train and held onto Puck's hand as they walked over to their seats.

Burt handed out hot dogs to everyone and Puck asked, "You got him a whole foot long hot dog?"

Alex looked down in amazement at the giant food that he was holding. "Finn will eat the rest," Burt shrugged off.

Finn looked hungrily down at Alex's hot dog, half finished with his own. Puck laughed and winced as Alex trailed ketchup down his shirt. He'd have to clean that himself because Kurt was completely _obsessive_ about preventing stains. Alex barely ate a quarter of the hot dog before giving up on trying to eat it. Finn took it greedily as Puck held out a bag of potato chips to the toddler instead. Alex ate them sloppily, grease and salt coating his fingers and face.

Puck washed him up the best he could. They turned back to the game in time to see the Cincinnati Steam make run number three. They were 3-0 over the Locos by the seventh inning stretch. Alex was yawning and rubbing his eyes. "Is it done yet?" he asked Puck softly.

"Almost, little guy," Puck laughed. "You're not gonna fall asleep are you?"

"No," Alex said indignantly.

Puck raised an eyebrow at the little boy, making him giggle. Something about the way Puck raised his eyebrow _never failed_ to make Alex laugh. Even when he was throwing a temper tantrum (his were quite impressive, given his parents) Puck could make him laugh. It had proved to be quite useful at times. This was one of those times. He tickled Alex to wake him up a little more, his smile glowing under the stadium lights. It was getting darker now; no doubt Alex would be asleep by the end of the game.

"Oh, we should get a picture before it's too dark out," Burt said, reaching into his pocket.

He pulled out a digital camera and looked around. Puck noticed a woman next to him and asked, "Can you take a picture for us?"

"Sure," she smiled, taking the camera from Burt.

The woman leaned back and got everyone in the frame, Burt and Finn leaning forward so they could be seen next to Puck. Alex stood in front of all of them, beaming. The camera flashed and Burt took his camera back. When Alex climbed back onto Puck's lap, the woman leaned over and said to him with a smile, "Your wife is going to love that picture."

Puck wanted to yell at her for making assumptions, but instead he politely replied, "I'm uh…I'm not married. But thanks."

He silently seethed but let himself be cheered up by Alex's chattering about how he was seeing circles now because of the bright camera light. Sometimes Puck just couldn't help but laugh at the things Alex said.

At the bottom of the eighth, the Locos got a home run, the ball landing _right in Finn's hands_. Alex squealed in excitement, looking down at the ball in Finn's red hands, clapping and grinning. "Uncle caught it! Yay!" he giggled.

"You want it?" Finn asked, smiling at the boy.

Wide blue eyes looked up at Finn. "Really?" Alex asked incredulously.

"Sure," he smiled, handing the ball to the toddler. "You can show it to daddy when you get home."

"Daddy Puck look!" Alex said, holding it up to Puck. "I got a ball from Uncle Finn! He said I could show daddy!"

"Sweet," Puck smiled, ignoring the scrutinizing look from the woman seated next to them. At least now she understood.

By the ninth inning, Alex was sleeping peacefully in Burt's arms. Puck looked over at the boy adoringly and Burt noticed from the corner of his eye. He was impressed with how dedicated Puck was to Kurt and Alex, especially given the fact that he didn't exactly have the best track record before Kurt. He had chalked it up to one of those sexual identity crisis type things and left it at that. All that mattered was that Puck was good for Kurt and Alex and the three of them were happy together.

After the game, Burt carried Alex to the car, even though Puck insisted he could take him. "He's my grandson," Burt insisted. "I don't mind carrying him, I promise."

Once home, Burt let Puck carry the boy like he obviously wanted to. They walked inside quietly, not wanting to wake Alex. It didn't matter though, because Kurt stormed upstairs, shouting something about how they were _finally_ home and he was _worried sick_. Alex stirred and looked around, wiping at his eyes. "Daddy?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, baby, I'm here," Kurt said, scowling at Puck as Alex was transferred to his arms.

Puck fought the urge to yell at Kurt for jumping to conclusions, for wanting to yell at him. "Daddy it was fun," Alex smiled sleepily. "We saw baseball."

Burt smiled fondly at the little boy and Finn watched the whole scene nervously. Kurt looked down at Alex in shock for a moment before looking up at Puck. "You took him to a _baseball game_!" he asked, hurt.

Puck nodded; he didn't like the fact that he could see tears welling in Kurt's eyes. "It was my idea, Kurt," Burt told him. "I knew if we told you first you'd be mad."

"I'm even angrier now!" Kurt shouted.

Alex cowered in his dad's arms before holding up the baseball hopefully. "Uncle Finn caught it for me," he said weakly. "He caught it when the baseball guy hit it to us."

Kurt looked down at his son, the innocent eyes so much like his, so full of hope. Taking the baseball in his hand, Kurt said softly, "That's cool."

Alex took this as reassurance and said, "Yeah, and Daddy Puck and Uncle Finn both brought me to the mascot," Puck shot Finn a look for getting the wrong definition of that in Alex's head, "And Grandpa bought me a hot dog! I couldn't eat it all though, so Uncle Finn finished it for me. A lady took a picture for us, too."

Alex was talking a mile a minute; it was hard for Kurt to keep up with it all. The boy was positively beaming. "Grandpa has the picture on his camera," Alex said. "You gotta see it daddy! Next time you should even _come with!_"

Kurt looked down at Alex, a mixture of pride and sadness in his eyes. "We'll look tomorrow, okay? Right now we need to get you in bed," Kurt said.

Alex frowned but nodded, "I'm sleepy."

Kurt brought his son downstairs without so much as a glance back at Finn, Puck, or his father. Finn walked up to his room, leaving Puck standing awkwardly in the living room. "It was going to be painful no matter how we did that," Burt explained. "Kurt's stubborn and he wouldn't have liked it no matter when we told him."

Puck just nodded. He hadn't been on the receiving end of a glare like that from Kurt since he tossed him in a dumpster back in their sophomore year of high school. It kind of hurt, now. Burt stepped towards Puck and said, "Look, he's pissed now, but he's gonna get over it. He always does."

"I should be going," Puck said quietly, walking towards the door.

"Why don't you talk with Kurt tonight? You can sleep on the fold-out like you usually do," Burt told him.

Puck rarely got an invitation to stay the night, especially from Burt. "Thanks, Mr. Hummel," he nodded.

"Call me Burt," the older man said, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

Surprised, Puck just nodded and watched as the man disappeared around the corner to his room. He stood around, his thoughts a horrible mess. Burt was so _awesome_. It was like he was the father Puck never had. The thought was overwhelming and he sat down on the couch, still lost in thought. Moments later Kurt reached the landing and looked at Puck with an icy stare. "Dad made you do it, didn't he?" he asked softly.

Puck met Kurt's eyes and nodded. "I'm sorry," he shrugged.

Kurt walked across the room and sat next to Puck on the couch. "Don't be," he replied. "We agreed years ago that you'd get to do things like that. I just…he was right. It's better that you told me tonight. I wouldn't have let you leave the house if you'd told me beforehand."

"We can take him to The Sing-Along Sound of Music next weekend if you want," Puck offered.

Kurt gave Puck a grateful smile and said, "Sounds good."

They leaned in and shared a small kiss. It conveyed so much, though, as most of theirs did. They were happy to be together. Sighing, Kurt said, "I guess you should be getting home, huh?"

"Your dad said I could spend the night," Puck winked.

Kurt playfully shoved Puck with his shoulder. "You get the fold-out. I'm exhausted," Kurt laughed.

Puck pouted but followed Kurt downstairs, pulling him in for a much more heated kiss. Kurt responded, smiling against Puck's lips. "Goodnight, Noah," he laughed, pushing himself out of Puck's arms.

"Goodnight," Puck smiled.


End file.
